Rodney: Marshall’s Shadow – Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance by Kathi Barton (books for new readers TXT) 📕

go by. You know, questions to ask. Anyway, we’re going to be doing those as well as being helpful for the nursing staff. I guess Whit rehired all the ones that had been fired or quit. At least ones that would come back. He seemed really proud of that.”

“They should never have been fired in the first place. I hope he knows that.” Rodney smacked her on her bare bottom as he went into the bathroom. Posing her question about clothing to him, he said he’d love to see her in heels and nothing else. “You know, that’s not the least bit helpful, you moron. I can see the look on your grandfather’s face now when I show up in nothing but a pair of red heels.”

“Yes, red ones. They’d be beautiful with your hair. But as for Grandda, he’ll have to get his own woman.” Rebel was glad she loved Rodney, or she might well be tempted to murder him. “By the way, we’re going to have to get both of us some more clothing. Not just dressy, but casual as well. I’ve got a closet full of greens, but nothing much else. The company I rent them from, they wash them and return them, so I never had to do laundry. Now that I would love to go out with you a great deal, I would like something nice. How do you think I’d look in a pair of red heels?”

Yes, she thought, she was going to murder him anyway. As he washed his hair, all sorts of ways to make him suffer came to mind. Walking to the commode, she flushed the toilet and left the room when he started cursing. Smiling, she thought this might be more fun than she’d imagined. Having someone around that was fun.

Going to the kitchen, she was happy to see that someone had made juice. Pulling out the tallest glass in the cabinet, she filled it and sat at the table. After drinking it down, she watched as it filled to the rim again. Not touching the glass or the pitcher she’d pulled from the refrigerator, she decided that if this was her doing, she wasn’t sure she was all right with it. But if it was the work of something or someone else, she wasn’t all right with it at all.

“Are you all right?” She shook her head, not looking away from the glass. Grandda sat down across from her as she told him what had happened. “You do know it’s happened before, correct?”

“I think I would have noticed when— The bottle I took home with me from the hospital. It refilled, didn’t it?” He nodded at her as he stood up and began pulling things from the fridge. “We’re going out to get breakfast. You’re more than welcome to join us.”

Putting the things back, Grandda told Rodney what was going on when he entered the room. They both got a little laugh about it, which pissed her off more. But she was afraid right now. Terrified that if she turned her anger on them, she might well hurt one or even both of them. She’d never been so glad for an appointment as she was for the one coming up soon. Perhaps this person would tell her that it was all a joke and that she was as human as the next guy. Somehow, she didn’t think that was going to happen any more than her not being able to watch the juice glass fill again. Christ, she was going over the edge here.

Chapter 5

Darin wasn’t sure if he was in on some sort of joke or not. The woman sitting across from him, with her head between her knees, was someone he’d not been looking forward to meeting all day. Now, here she was, begging him to tell her it was a joke. Darin no more got that than he did why the woman didn’t know she was a witch.

“I didn’t know. I promise you, this isn’t a joke. I had no idea that anything I was doing wasn’t just a fluke.” He assured her it wasn’t. “Yeah, I got that part. What I don’t understand is how you can tell that without touching me hand or something.”

Her accent was coming out a bit stronger now. When she’d first sat across from him, he thought she was just like every other want to be he’d ever met. But Rebel was the real deal. Not only that, but her obvious strength was also something she’d never used before. When she sat up, he smiled at her.

“I’d like to just shoot questions at you as they form in my head. Are you all right with that?” Darin said he would do whatever she needed. “Is this because you’re going to be helpful, or because of— What is it you called me?”

“Grand witch. And it’s a bit of both. While I can see you’re really struggling here, a large part of me wants to beg you to let me live too. I know you said you weren’t in the mood to kill me right now, but I have to admit, that’s not really an answer I wanted to hear.” She told him she was sorry about that. She wouldn’t kill him. “Thank you. I do appreciate that. You are a grand witch. There are a few more around, none of them nearly as powerful as you are. One of them, I’d say, is only a grand because that’s what she calls herself. You, you’re what we call born to the occupation.”

“But I know nothing about this.” He said if she’d allow him to do it, he could wake all of the power she had. “Is it dangerous? Not to me, but to you?”

“Dangerous? No, I wouldn’t think so. Not unless I offend you in some way and you carry through with your threat. However, helping you would give me a great deal of pleasure. We, people with witchcraft in our blood,